El Dorado National Forest

[Fig. 19,
Fig. 20,
Fig. 21]
The 1.2-million-acre Eldorado National Forest was created in 1905 for the
Forest Service to manage the timber and grazing resources. The forest has
the Desolation Wilderness, about 63,500 acres to the northeast, and the
105,000-acre Mokelumne Wilderness to the southeast. Both have hiking trails,
wildflowers, and wildlife viewing.

The foothills in the forest and just west of the El Dorado are filled with
recreation opportunities, natural history, and cultural richness. James
Marshall's discovery of gold occurred just west of the forest. Some of the
finest whitewater runs in California can be found on the American River,
within and just outside forest boundaries. And foothill wineries just outside
the western boundary of the forest are slowly making a name for themselves
along Highway 50, which was once the route of the Pony Express.

The El Dorado also was known as a trans-Sierra corridor for pioneers in
the nineteenth century. After Marshall's gold discovery, wagon trains came
through regularly between 1850 and 1870.

One of the more interesting attractions is Robbs Hut, a rebuilt fire lookout.
People can rent it and spend days in an area where the Forest Service once
searched the horizon for any hint of smoke. For high Sierra sights, the
El Dorado has the 10,380-foot Round Top, a granite spire that lives up to
its name: It is quite round and barren on top.

Marshall
Gold Discovery State Park

[Fig. 19(1)]
A good piece of California history resides at Marshall Gold Discovery State
Park, which commemorates the area where James Marshall found gold and started
the gold rush in 1848. Museums and exhibits tell Marshall's story. Visitors
can even pan for gold here.

Gold-bearing quartz veins often came in groupings, which were dubbed "lodes."
The Northern Sierra foothills contain a metamorphic belt that produced about
three-quarters of a billion dollars worth of gold in less than 20 years.
It is still known as the "Mother Lode." Marshall Gold Discovery
State Park today marks the birthplace of the Mother Lode in Coloma, just
northeast of Sacramento and just west of present-day El Dorado National
Forest.

Researchers are trying to piece together the mining history of Coloma. In
the 1990s, scholars in search of gold rush-era building foundations found
a late-1800s mining operation. Sometime in the 1890s, long after the 49ers
had given up on their dreams of instant riches and returned home, a group
of hopeful miners worked over the abandoned land in anticipation of finding
a previously undiscovered vein of gold.

They tore down the decaying buildings and dug up the land beneath them.
Teams of men forced the dirt through long sluices tossing large cobbles
behind them as they worked. Fifty years after the discovery of gold, Coloma
still remained a popular spot for eager gold seekers.

Archaeologists
also recovered a lot of relatively undisturbed Chinese artifacts, which
may indicate the ethnicity of the miners and the location of their temporary
living site. Researchers also uncovered several postholes in this lot that
indicate the existence of a post-mining era structure. In recent years,
the archaeologists have set up tables at the Marshall park and invited the
public to observe the activities of the excavators and talk to crew members.

The history of Marshall's discovery is well known. On January 24, 1848,
Marshall found what erosion and the elements had been slowly revealing over
the past 20 million years: gold. Marshall and his work crew were camped
on the South Fork American River at Coloma. The crew was building a sawmill
for John Sutter.

A few tiny gold nuggets, heavier than most other rocks, washed down and
Marshall found them on that chilly January morning. Thus began the migration
of half a million people from around the globe in search of gold and riches.

Gold began forming in these foothills a long time before Marshall, Sutter,
and all the miners came. Between 80 million and 200 million years ago, 100
massive plutons (named after Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld) intruded
into metamorphic marine layers beneath the Pacific Ocean.

Over many millions of years, magma, from which the pluton rocks were formed,
continued to heat, cool, and crystallize into pyroxene, amphibole, biotite,
and olivine. Later in the process, plagioclase feldspars and quartz formed.
These minerals sealed veins in the sheets of granite and other rock, forming
concentrations of asbestos, chromite, iron, silver, gold, and others.

Less than 50,000 years ago, the surrounding foothill areas began to fill
with the many grasses of Central California. Though native grasses can be
found, California's foothills and grasslands are now dominated by alien
grass species. Many of them are native to the Mediterranean region and were
transported to California by Spaniards and Mexicans. The seeds were meant
to feed livestock. Others were probably carried in on the coats of animals.

By
the mid-1800s, the alien varieties had a stranglehold on the grasslands.
Some of the native bunchgrasses still exist. They include the foothill bluegrass
(Poa scabrella) and the purple needlegrass (Stipa pulchra).

Directions: Drive 7 miles north on Highway 49 from Placerville
at the junction of Highway 49 and Highway 50 east of the El Dorado National
Forest.

Facilities: Museum, with exhibits that tell the story of the
Gold Rush, a replica of the sawmill, and a number of historic buildings.
Visitors also have the opportunity to pan for gold in the river or enjoy
a picnic under the trees. A statue marks the gravesite of Marshall, who
died in 1885.

Folsom Powerhouse

[Fig. 19(2)]
Get a tour of the old powerhouse and a dose of history at the Folsom Powerhouse.
Visitors can also see such natural sights as meadowfoam (Limnanthes alba),
a white flower with white hairs on the stems. It is found in low areas where
moisture accumulates. Wildflower lovers should also look for Fremont's tidytips
(Layia fremontii), a stunning yellow flower that blooms in May in
the Folsom area.

Gold mining created the town of Folsom and contributed the momentum to build
the historic Folsom Powerhouse on the American River east of Sacramento.
The sons of Horatio Livermore embraced the idea of hydroelectric power in
the early 1890s, when experiments had been successfully completed on a limited
basis in Germany and New York. Nothing had been attempted that was on the
scale of the Livermore project.

They built a canal 9,500 feet long, which provided water to power four large
electrical generators that had been built up the stone dam across the American
River. The water also powered the bulkhead and headgates for the canal.
The canal itself was finished in 1893. Folsom State Prison was the first
to benefit from the dam when it put its own hydroelectric powerhouse into
operation, also in 1893.

By 1895, the main powerhouse complex was completed and was ready to transmit
power to Sacramento. It consisted of four 750-kilowatt electrical generators
(also called "dynamos"), each more than 8 feet high, weighing
more than 57,000 pounds. The General Electric Company manufactured them.
The concept was simple: Turbines were driven by water surging through four
8-foot diameter penstocks. The generators have been altered a little over
the years. The basic equipment is still where it was when the plant shut
down in 1952. The plant closed because other sources of power became available,
and owners decided not to continue this comparatively small project.

The state Department of Parks and Recreation acquired the Folsom Powerhouse
project area, along with about 0.5 mile of the canal, as a donation from
Pacific Gas & Electric Company in 1958. In the late 1960s or early 1970s,
interpretive panels and displays depicting the history of the Folsom Powerhouse
were installed in the garage at the north end of the office/shop building.

The Folsom Powerhouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
(1981) as being significant in the areas of engineering and industry. It
has been said that it represented a momentous advance in the science of
generating and transmitting electricity. It is also a National Historic
Civil Engineering Landmark (1975) and a National Historic Mechanical Engineering
Landmark (1976), and it is designated as a California Registered Historical
Landmark.

Directions: Drive Highway 50 about 10 miles east from Sacramento
to the first City of Folsom Exit (Folsom Boulevard), turn left at the
light and continue on Folsom, which will turn into Leidesdorf Street.
At the light, turn right on Riley Street. The powerhouse is on the left-hand
side. Turn left into the parking lot just past the first light (Scott
Street) and before reaching the Rainbow Bridge.

Auburn State Recreation Area

[Fig. 19(3)]
The 35,000-acre Auburn State Recreation Area stretches along 40 miles of
the North and Middle Forks of the American River where thousands of gold
miners swarmed in the 1850s. Now, it is a recreation area for more than
500,000 visitors annually.

More than 100 miles of hiking and horse trails wind through the steep American
River canyons and along the American River. The most famous trail is the
Western States Trail, which runs 100 miles from Lake Tahoe to Auburn, with
over 20 miles in the recreation area. A map showing the trails is available
from the recreation area office.

Mountain bicycling is a popular activity as well. The maximum speed on all
trails is 15 miles per hour. The maximum speed is 5 miles per hour when
passing pedestrians and equestrians and when approaching blind curves.

The historic Stagecoach Trail from Russell Road in Auburn to the Old Foresthill
Road Bridge on the North Fork of the American River connects with the fire
road to the West End of the big Foresthill Bridge.

The recreation area offers a 9.5-mile run on the North Fork American from
the Iowa Hill Bridge to Ponderosa Bridge. Several difficult rapids are encountered,
most notably these: Chamberlin Falls, Staircase Rapids, and Bogus Thunder.
Trips down this river are typically made in one day.

Boating the North Fork requires a sound background in technical whitewater
skills. The most desirable flow range is between 1,500 and 3,000 cubic feet
per second (3,000 to 6,000 acre-foot flows per day).

In the recreation area, one-, two-, or three-day trips are available on
the challenging Middle Fork American River. The 15-mile run from Oxbow put-in
to Greenwood take-out features several very fast rapids, as well as numerous
slower rapids. Most notable are the Tunnel Chute and Kanaka Gulch.

Where the water does not run so fast, the riparian woodland has a variety
of vegetation worth seeing. White alder (Alnus rhombifolia) and the
bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) are among the most common sights
in the recreation area.

Riparian or riverside vegetation is reduced to a thin ribbon around the
river in steeper, rocky terrain. But as the river reaches more gentle inclines
farther down the mountain, nearer to the Central Valley, the soils become
looser, more saturated with nutrients, and able to support more plant life.

Shrubs include California pipe vine (Aristolochia californica), osoberry
(Osmaronia cerasiformis), and California wild grape (Vitis californica).
All are fairly uncommon shrubs in the Sierra foothills, except alongside
streams such as the American River.

Sometimes, natural history is easiest to find just a few feet from an interstate
highway. On the way to Auburn State Recreation Area, the edges of an eroded
granite pluton perhaps 50 million years old are apparent along Interstate
80. It was a single bubble of granite that somehow separated from the main
plutons many miles away.

Black Mariposa slate can be seen just beyond the pluton to the east. A small
ridge farther east is actually a former rolling hill that was part of the
Sierra more than 50 million years go, long before the range's uplift tilted
the ridge. To the west, visitors can find younger sediments from Sierra
erosion over the past 20 million years.

Directions: Drive east on Interstate 80 about 12 miles from
the city of Auburn, northeast of Sacramento. Turn right on the main access
route, the Auburn-Foresthill Road, which leads to the recreation area.
Follow the signs.

Foothill Wineries

[Fig. 19(4)]
When people think of California wineries, they're usually thinking about
the ones in Napa. But the Central Sierra foothills are slowly becoming known
for the fruit of the grape. People make a brief tour of the wineries along
Highway 50, west of Lake Tahoe, and enjoy tasting wines in an area that
actually has a bit of history in wine-making.

In the nineteenth century, when Napa was known for prunes, Sierra Nevada
foothill communities had several dozen wineries. The wineries sprang up
in El Dorado County after the 1849 Gold Rush. Miners needed to diversify
their work as the mining craze died out.

But population in the gold mining areas began to dwindle. By the beginning
of the twentieth century, there were fewer wineries. Then Prohibition snuffed
out whatever was left of the winery business. Soon, El Dorado County became
more known for timber.

The 1970s brought new interest when a member of a Napa wine family invested
in a Placerville pear orchard and replanted it with wine grapes. The buyer,
Greg Boeger, a descendent of the Nichelini family of Napa, realized the
climate in the foothills was very close to the Napa climatewarm summers,
dry autumns, and cool, wet winters.

Others saw Boeger's success and began moving into El Dorado County. Now
almost two dozen wineries are flourishing in this area. The highest is at
3,000 feet in elevation. Some of the more popular types of wines include
chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, and zinfandel. The Boeger spread, about
50 acres, grows 25 different kinds of wine grapes.

Wine tasting and touring is slowly becoming a tradition in the Central Sierra
foothills. The wineries are generally located along Highway 50 about an
hour west of Lake Tahoe just east of Placerville. Most open on weekends
for tasting and some are open daily. Picnic areas are available for those
who wish to bring a basket and purchase a bottle of wine.

The wineries also benefit from the multitude of apple orchards in the area.
Each autumn, people take the turnoff near PlacervilleSchnells School
Road from the west or Carson Road from the eastto visit the apple
orchards to sample the fruit. People usually like to pick their own. And,
right next door to the largest orchards, they find wineries.

Other wineries are scattered throughout the foothills all the way down to
Mariposa County near Yosemite. According to many wine experts, the foothill
wineries are gaining on the prestigious the Napa-area wineries.

People are beginning to mark their calendars for April because the El Dorado
wineries get together to present Passport Weekend. On the first and second
weekends of April, people can buy a two-day pass to 18 wineries to eat gourmet
food and cheeses as they sample wines. About 2,500 people attended in 1999.

Directions: From Lake Tahoe, drive about 50 miles east on Highway
50 to Carson Road, and exit to the north. Drive 3 miles to begin seeing
wineries.

Robbs Hut

[Fig. 20(3)]
A stay at Robbs Hut is a chance to get away from it all for several days
and sample the rustic, simple living of fire lookouts. The views are magnificent
if you don't mind a little hiking to get to Robbs Hut. This slice of outdoor
life was made possible by the U.S. Forest Service's change in thinking about
fires.

The U.S. Forest Service began spotting Sierra fires and snuffing them quickly
in the early part of the twentieth century, building many lookouts such
as Robbs Hut in the El Dorado National Forest. The mountain hut, constructed
in 1934 and decommissioned from active status in 1978, is a midelevation
Sierra vantage point at 6,686-foot Robbs Peak, and it is a delight for outdoor
enthusiasts who can now rent it for overnight use.

Just as the Forest Service's use for Robbs Hut has changed, its practice
of extinguishing forest fires on sight has been altered. One person would
reside in lookouts such as Robbs Hut from late June until early September,
watching for fires all day and, in very dry conditions, seven days a week.

The practice of suppressing the fires led to overgrown brush at many elevations
in the Sierra. Biologists, ecologists, and the Forest Service had no idea
that thick brush would set up the ecosystem for huge wildfires that would
climb to canopies of even the highest trees. Such a fire burned hundreds
of thousands of Sierra woodland acres in 1978.

Finally, officials began to understand why the Miwok and other tribes many
centuries ago regularly burned understories of brush. The Native Americans
knew the forest ecosystem relied on fire to thin out areas and create places
where natural competition would allow a diverse biotic community.

Fire promoted the basic forest health that Native Americans needed. It also
opened clear areas through which tribes could see surprise attacks and defend
themselves.

Now, the Forest Service and the National Park Service allow some areas to
burn naturally when lightning sets off fires. It is still important to spot
the fires, but now government agencies are using fire as a forest management
tool to protect resources.

The resources being protected around Robbs Hut are typical of the 3,000-
to 7,000-foot elevation on the Central Sierra's west slope. In some tree
stands around Robbs Hutt there are five different conifers. The white fir
(Abies concolor) is at somewhat higher elevations. The yellow or
ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) is more acclimated to the lower
end, more easily adapting to drier conditions. Other trees include the sugar
pine (Pinus lambertiana), incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens),
and the black oak (Quercus kelloggii).

Robbs Hut is not for the inexperienced hiker or outdoors person. Access
to the Robbs Peak Lookout during winter and early spring is by foot, skis,
or snowmobile, depending on snow conditions. At the bottom of the road to
the hut there is a gate, which is always locked in the winter. The Forest
Service will provide combinations to the locks for anyone who rents the
cabin.

The road into the area is passable in a regular automobile during summer,
but it is not plowed in the winter. At times, a four-wheel drive vehicle
is required to get up the road.

The elevation gain from the parking area to the bunkhouse is more than 1,000
feet. The trip from the car to the hut can take from two to six hours to
complete.

Directions: Drive east on Highway 50 to Riverton, 20 miles east
of Placerville. Turn left on Ice House Road (Forest Road 3) and go 23
miles to the Robbs Peak Road turnoff and turn left. Drive about 20 miles
to Forest Service Road 13N31 and turn left. In the winter, there is a
locked gate at this road. In summer, it is unlocked. Park and follow the
road on foot or on skis for 3 miles. The road (trail) to Robbs Hut is
intermittently marked with blue diamonds; however, do not rely on the
markings alone. A map and compass skills may be necessary to locate the
hut under certain conditions. A detailed Forest Service map is suggested.

Facilities: Bunkhouse sleeps six and is equipped with a gas
fireplace as the sole source of heat, a two-burner propane cooking stove,
three sleeping platforms, mattresses, six wool blankets, an axe, a shovel,
a bucket, cleaning gear, and a fire extinguisher. The stove and permanently
mounted propane lights are served by piped-in propane.

Desolation
Wilderness

[Fig. 20]
Visitors can see what the retreating glacial age left behind 10,000 years
ago in the 63,500-acre Desolation Wilderness150 alpine and subalpine
lakes in the ancient, high-elevation granite. Unfortunately, there are sometimes
so many people hiking here that it feels less desolate and less like wilderness
than almost any other Sierra wildlands.

The lakes, the glacial remnants, and the sights make it one of the most
popular wildernesses in California. It is also popular because it is so
conveniently located on the busy corridor between Lake Tahoe to the east
and San Francisco and Sacramento to the west.

In Glen Alpine Valley, the signs of a glacier's passing are apparent on
the roche moutonnée found there. The granite feature was fashioned
by a glacier that wore away a massive boulder in a gradual plane on one
side and in a sharper, more jagged way on the other. About 20,000 years
ago, a glacier created these landmarks in Glen Alpine Valley as well as
in Desolation Valley to the southwest.

The name "roche moutonnée" came from Horace Benedict
de Saussure. When he saw the features at Tuolumne Meadows in present-day
Yosemite National Park, he called them roche moutonnée, meaning
they looked like a flock of "rock sheep" at a distance.

Driving up Highway 50 to the Desolation Wilderness, the road cuts reveal
a deep history of the Sierra in the Eldorado National Forest. At one point,
before reaching Echo Summit, visitors will see a low spot between Pollock
Pines and Riverton at the South Fork of the American River. Through erosion
of the volcanic ash, perhaps 5 to 10 million years old, the oldest sedimentary
rocks on the western slope of the Sierra are exposed. The sedimentary rocks
date back to 200 to 300 million years ago before the sea floor began descending.

Within the wilderness, the granite batholith peeks out from beneath the
volcanic rock as well. Elevations range from 6,500 feet to more than 10,000.

Visitors also may encounter the California mountain king snake (Lampropeltis
zonata), a 20- to 40-inch snake with red, white, and black bands circling
its body. This is a very secretive snake, but it is also extremely common,
so visitors might see one in the moist forest near rocks or along a stream
with fallen timber nearby. Don't distressed. This snake is completely harmless.

In the subalpine meadows of the wilderness, the volcanic soils are loose
and filled with nutrients to grow such plants as the subalpine shooting
star (Dodecatheon subalpinum), which requires moisture and soils
that allow its root system to easily develop. When soils become soggyespecially
in meadows where the snowmelt is considerable in June and Julythe
greater elephant's head (Pedicularis groenlandica) is found, growing
a beautiful pink to deep rose-colored flower.

The Desolation Wilderness also has numerous migratory birds that visit the
upper-elevation forest, known as the red fir (Abies magnifica) and
lodgepole pine (Pinus murrayana) belts. The common merganser (Mergus
merganser), olive-sided flycatcher (Nuttallornis borealis), Brewer's
blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus), chipping sparrow (Spizella
passerina), and the pine siskin (Spinus pinus) are among the
seasonal visitors that nest and nurture their young in the wilderness.

The crowds gather at Wrights, Echo, Fallen Leaf, and Eagle Falls trailheads.
Lighter use occurs in northwest portions of the wilderness. Open wood fires
are not allowed, but portable stoves are.

This wilderness has a 700-person limit for overnight use between June 15
and Labor Day. Group size limit is always 15, and smaller groups are recommended
for some heavily used trails. As with other wildernesses, travelers may
hike or ride on horses or llamas. In Desolation Wilderness there are no
buildings or roads. The wilderness can be entered by 15 trailheads; a detailed
map is available from the U.S. Forest Service.

Directions: From Lake Tahoe, take Highway 89 south along the
eastern edge of the wilderness to one of several trails of the wilderness.
The trails include Eagle Falls, Bayview, Tallac, Cathedral, Glenn Alpine,
and Echo Lake. Most are within 2 to 4 miles of the wilderness.

Activities: Hiking, camping, swimming, backpacking.

Facilities: Some campgrounds.

Dates: Open June through Sept.

Fees: There are fees for wilderness permits.

Closest town: Twin Bridges, 2.5 miles south of the wilderness
off of Highway 50.

Loon Lake Trail

[Fig. 20(1)]
People who want to stay out in the Desolation Wilderness for two or three
days will probably camp out along this trail and go all the way to Blakely
Trail. Most day hikers will start at Pleasant Campground, hike in 6 or 8
miles to Rockhound Lake or Rubicon Reservoir and turn around.

The sights include the South Fork Rubicon River and Loon Lake, where campsites
can be found at Loon Lake Campground. Brown Mountain, to the southeast,
may have been a basaltic volcano at some point.

Loon, Rockhound, and Rubicon lakes are all part of a system that feeds water
to Sacramento. If they begin to look a little puny in late summer, it's
because the water is being siphoned to the Central Valley.

An amphibian of interest in this area is the ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzi),
about 2 inches in length with orange spots. This creature is not found at
the higher elevations of this trail, so look for it early in the hike. It
lives around rotting wood near streams, and it is more common below 6,000
feet. But the ensatina, active between April and September, has been seen
in places along this trail. If startled, it will arch its back and swing
its tail.

Directions: Drive about 25 miles east of Placerville on Highway
50, turn left on Ice House Road. Drive 22 more miles on Ice House Road
(Forest Route 3) until reaching Loon Lake Road, then branch right. Drive
5 miles to a fork, take the right fork, and go 0.5 mile to an equestrian
campground. Continue on the same road and fork right, curving counterclockwise
around a group camp. Enter the trailhead parking area where day wilderness
permits are available.

Rockhound Pass Trail

[Fig. 20(2)]
Glaciers receding about 17,000 years ago left their calling cards not far
from Beauty Lake on the Rockhound Pass Trail to Pearl Lake. There are some
huge boulders or erratics remaining. The hiking is easy, but the trail is
also a place four-wheel-drive vehicles are known to frequent in the summer
months.

By the time hikers reach Pearl Lake, they have crossed glacial sediments
and moraines that have deep, rich histories in the last Ice Age. Campsites
are easily found, but it's always best to take a hard look at any cliff
or overhang first. Exfoliation and rockfall continues in much of the Sierra.
This place is no different.

Directions: Drive about 25 miles east of Placerville on Highway
50, turn left on Ice House Road. Drive 33 miles on Ice House Road (Forest
Route 3) to Forest Route 32 and turn right. Drive 9 more miles, passing
three campgrounds, and meeting Forest Route 4 or Wrights Lake Road. Turn
left and drive 1.9 miles to another branch in the road, and go right.
It will take you past Wrights Lake Horse Camp. Continue less than 0.5
mile to the Wrights Lake Information Kiosk for a wilderness permit. Past
the kiosk, bear left and drive for about 0.25 mile and there is parking
on the left. Follow signs for the Rockhound Pass trailhead from Wrights
Lake to the first stop, Beauty Lake.

Mokelumne
Wilderness

[Fig. 21]
The 9,334-foot Mokelumne Peak stands high above the steep walls of the Mokelumne
River canyon. The peak is probably 50 million to 65 million years old, meaning
dinosaurs once treaded upon its eroded granite features.

It is not generally a destination for day hikers or the casual visitor in
the Mokelumne Wilderness, which spans 105,165 acres and spreads across the
Sierra crest to touch three national forests, the Stanislaus, El Dorado,
and Toiyabe. But it is characteristic of the steep and primitive landscape
that can be seen in this area when hiking the more than 100 miles of trails.

As with many areas in the Central Sierra, the Mokelumne was covered with
volcanic eruptions in the past 20 million years and glaciated in the last
2 million years. Glacial moraines dammed lakes in the Bear River-Tanglefoot
Canyon area.

On the southern border of the wilderness, just inside the Stanislaus National
Forest, is 8,600-foot Mount Reba, the site where a rare fossil was found.
This floral fossil dates back about 7 million years and was preserved in
the volcanic flows that occurred during a time of faulting and uplifting
in the Sierra. Scientists believe the flora in the fossil could only have
survived in temperatures colder than tropical weather, which had dominated
the Sierra about 33 million years ago. The fossil helps establish that Sierra
weather was cooling down from the tropical patterns and slowly approaching
the Ice Age that began 2 million years ago.

In the nineteenth century, the Mokelumne Wilderness was used for early emigrant
routes of travel from Lake Tahoe to Calaveras Big Trees and for mining and
grazing. Other routes slowly became more heavily used in the twentieth century;
the area came to be protected as part of the National Wilderness Preservation
System in 1964. Boundaries were expanded in 1984.

Besides the Sierra's white fir (Abies concolor) and lodgepole pine
(Pinus murrayana) as well as other familiar trees, the Mokelumne
has spectacular wildflowers. The selection includes Lemmon's wild ginger
(Assarum lemmoni) and the alpine aster (Aster alpigenus).
The aster is particularly noticeable with its pink to purple flower head
peeking out of mountain meadows in the Mokelumne.

Varieties come and go as the warmer weather begins at lower elevations and
moves to the higher elevations in late June, July, and August. In that way,
spring seems to be blooming somewhere all through the summer. Such signature
western slope flowers as the Sierra lupine (Lupinus grayi) are also
characteristic of the dry wooded areas when summer warms up the Central
Sierra.

In August around the Mokelumne, such mammals at the gray fox (Urocyon
cinereoargenteus) are feeding on manzanita (Arctostaphylos) or
coffeeberries (Rhamnus rubra). The fox are active day and night.
They are more plentiful and easier to spot than the red fox (Vulpes fulva),
which live in the higher elevations, occasionally straying down to about
6,000 feet.

Mokelumne is not known for its lakes as much as it is for its rocks. But
Frog Lake, Winnemucca Lake, Round Top Lake, Fourth of July Lake, and Emigrant
Lake are considered interesting attractions. The wilderness can be entered
from 29 trailheads.

Directions: The wilderness is bordered by Highway 4 on the south
and State Highway 88 on the north. Drive 45 miles east of Pioneer on Highway
88 to the Kirkwood Ski Area and Caples Lake, where northside trailheads
can be found. Drive 40 miles east on Highway 4 to Hermit Valley, where
more southeast trailheads can be found.

Activities: Hiking, backpacking, camping, swimming, and boating.

Dates: Open June through Sept.

Fees: There is no fee for hiking permits, but fees are charged
for day-use parking at Carson Pass and Meiss trailheads off of Highway
88.

Closest town: Kirkwood, on Highway 88, about 2 miles from the
wilderness.

Carson Pass Trail

[Fig. 21(1)]
Though the wilderness has no roads and motorized travel is prohibited, visitors
can see panoramics from several short hikes. All are accessible from Highway
88, which runs east and west just north of the wilderness. On the western
side, Highway 88 goes through the El Dorado National Forest; on the east,
it passes through Toiyabe National Forest.

Once
visitors travel beyond the Sierra crest at Carson Pass, vegetation and soils
will change visibly. The east side is drier because of prevailing weather
patterns and the influence of the Sierra itself (see page 203 for
further explanation of Eastern Sierra weather). The soils are more porous.
There are fewer lakes, and plants become sparser, with Great Basin sagebrush
(Artemesia tridentata) dominating the ecosystem.

On the western side, there are several lakes with glacial histories. Many
are easy to reach and provide opportunities to photograph wildflowers, alpine
and subalpine plant species. The hikes include Woods Lake trailhead to Winnemucca
Lake, Woods Lake trailhead to Round Top Lake near the Lost Cabin Mine Trail,
and the Caples trailhead to Emigrant Lake.

An easy-to-find trail, which passes through an area representative of the
landscape in the Mokelumne, is the Carson Pass Trail to Winnemucca Lake.
As with many trails in California, it is a well-worn route, established
without blazes. Along the way, according to U.S. Geological Survey maps,
the trail passes directly over a large fault that runs east toward Hope
Valley.

Perhaps the first people to use this trail were the various Native Americans
who inhabited the area for 10,000 years. The most recent inhabitants, the
Miwok from the west slope and the Washoe of the Great Basin, spent the warmer
months hunting in the high country and trading with each other.

Explorers such as Jedediah Smith (1826) and John C. Fremont and Kit Carson
(1844) were the first Euro-Americans to visit the Mokelumne Wilderness.
In 1848, the Mormon Battalion successfully pioneered a trail just south
of present day Carson Pass in a trek from Sutter's Fort to Salt Lake City,
and later, thousands of emigrants followed this route on the way to the
gold fields of California. Shepherds later grazed stock in the spring and
summer.

Directions: Drive to Carson Pass, about 100 miles east of Highway
99 on Highway 88, or about 20 miles south of Highway 50 from the Lake
Tahoe area on Highway 88. Go to the Carson Pass Visitor Center at the
south end of the long turnout to find the trailhead.

Trail: 2.5 miles one-way to Winnemucca Lake.

Elevation: 8,590 feet to 7,700 feet.

Degree of difficulty: Moderate.

Surface: Rocky, steep in places but easy to follow.

Raymond Lake

[Fig. 21(2)]
Take two or three days to enjoy a hike along the Pacific Crest Trail to
Raymond Lake, passing volcanic pillars, domes, and all kinds of streams.
But be careful. This trail crosses Highway 4 near Ebbetts Pass. That's probably
about as much danger as most hikers will see.

The trail passes Upper Kinney Lake, Pennsylvania Creek and Reynolds Peak
before reaching Raymond Canyon. The up-and-down hike at this elevationmostly
over 8,000 feetwill make most backpackers sleep at night. Small campsites
are available at Raymond Lake.

Directions: Drive Highway 4 to Ebbetts Pass at the crest of
the Sierra and park about 0.5 mile east of the pass in the Pacific Crest
Trail parking lot.

Grouse Lake

[Fig. 21(3)]
For those who do not want to put in an eight-hour day to complete this hike,
there are campgrounds all along this trail. Whether you camp or day hike,
the trip to this tarn is an eventful route filled with meadows and subalpine
vegetation.

After crossing three basins and ascending a rocky ridge, the views of the
Mokelumne Wilderness are stunning. The ridge tops out at more than 9,000
feet, but the reward is a swift descent to the lake and campsites at 8,400
feet where the Sierra air is a little thin but definitely clear.

Directions: From the west, drive 6.5 miles past Carson Pass
on Highway 88, and turn right on Blue Lake Road. Drive 12 miles on Blue
Lake Road until you reach an intersection at Lower Blue Lake. Turn right,
and drive about 2 miles on a Pacific Gas & Electric Company road.
Park at the base of Upper Blue Lake Dam. Trailhead is on the left side
of the parking lot.

Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park

[Fig. 19(5)]
In the foothills west of the El Dorado National Forest, there are 1,185
grinding holes in outcroppings of marbleized limestone made by Native Americans
who lived here for many centuries and still live here today. It is the largest
collection of bedrock mortar holes found anywhere on a single stone in North
America.

The Miwok Indians pounded acorns from the abundant valley oak (Quercus
lobata), the stately California oak that grows to 9 feet in trunk diameter
and has wide, drooping branchlets. The tree, which is found on the Sierra's
western slope below 4,000 feet, provides acorns to the California woodpecker
(Melanerpes formicivorous). The flora include a number of flowering
plants, such as the monkey-flower (Mimlus torrey), white mariposa
lily (Calochortus venustus), and Sierra iris (Iris hartwegii).

In the surrounding woodland near this valley, visitors can hear the calling
of a hermit thrush (Catharus guttata) nesting in the nearby foothills.
The thrush, like many birds of the wooded foothills, prefers living near
the ground under a canopy of leaves. The 135-acre park has many bird species,
much as it did when the Miwok first inhabited it.

To the Miwok, the place is known as Chaw'se, the pounding stone.
The Miwok would slowly pound seeds and acorns into meal, leaving the distinctive
cup-shaped impressions that survive today. The Miwok's daily activities
here included weaving baskets, making flour from acorns, and processing
other plants for food, fiber, and medicines. Along with all those mortar
holes, there are many decorative carvings in the rockspokes, human
tracks, wavy lines. These petroglyphs are thought to be 2,000 to 3,000 years
old. This is the only place where such mortar holes and petroglyphs occur
together.

The marbleized limestone rock is quite fragile and susceptible to breaking
and fracturing with time and weathering. Many petroglyphs are fading, and
visitors in future generations will not be able to see this historic artwork.

Directions: From the junction of Highway 49 and Highway 88,
east of Stockton, drive 8 miles to Pine Grove, turn left on Pine Grove-Volcano
Road. Go 1 mile to the park on the left side of the road.